Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom
Chapter 9

On getting to the back of the crowd, someone cried out.

"Isn that Jeslyn? What is she doing here?"

At those words, the reporters rushed to her and pointed their cameras at her while others shoved their mics into her face.

"Miss Jeslyn, tell us. Is it true you killed your grandfather?"

"Miss Jeslyn, why did you kill your grandfather?"

"Miss Jeslyn, what can you say for yourself?"

"Miss Jeslyn, how could you cheat on your poor fiance and abandon him at the altar?"

"Miss Jeslyn, don you think you are too heartless to remain a celebrity?"

"Miss Jeslyn, say something. The people wants to know.

"Miss Jeslyn...."

Jeslyn grabbed her messy hair tightly as she felt a throbbing pain in her head. Just when she thought the reporters would be the death of her, a loud sound rang in her ear accompanied by a stinging pain on her right cheek.

She turned her gaze to see who it was and came face to face with her sisters teary eyes mixed with rage.

"You monster! Ill kill you!" Christine yelled and was about to attack Jeslyns face with her long nails when Ray rushed forward and grabbed her by the waist, preventing her from going physical. "C-Christine?" Jeslyn called as she held her stinging cheek.

"Don call me, you devil! What did grandfather do to you? Grandfather loved you so much and saw only you as his granddaughter, yet you paid him back with this? You killed him! What kind of heart do you have? You devil!! "

She flung her hands in the air in an attempt to fight Jeslyn but Ray wouldn let her go further.

"Christine, I didn do anything, I-"

"When has a thief ever agreed that they stole anything? Even when they are caught red-handed, they would say they were just about to keep the stolen goods in its right place. " Hearing that voice, Jeslyn shifted her gaze to Rays older sister who just spoke, and returned her gaze to her sister. It doesn matter if the world doesn believe her, but her sister has to. "I didn do anything. Grandfather was poisoned and he- "

"Stop lying! Grandfather was healthy. He was pushed and hit his head on the coffee table. Maya and the guards witnessed it all! "

"W-what are you saying?" Jeslyn looked lost and immensely confused.

"Maya and the guards gave their testimony to the police, which included video clips of how you and grandfather argued over what you did to brother Ray. Then you disagreed with grandfather and he slapped you.

You got upset and started to yell at him. Realizing his mistake, he tried to pull you for a hug like he always did and you pushed him, you pushed him!" Christine yelled.

By now, all the guests were gathered and most of them were already jeering at her and pointing fingers, while the others were loudly cursing her and calling her names.

"Christine, thats not true, thats a lie!" She yelled as she held her head to block off all the noises in her mind.

"Shove the evidence in her face. She will never cry until she sees the coffin. " Someone said from the crowd.

Rays older sister pulled out her phone. She scrolled through it and brought out the evidence. She started playing the video before literally shoving the phone into Jeslyns face.

Jeslyn subconsciously rescued the phone from falling while coincidentally seeing the footage.

What drew her attention was her old man. Teardrops slowly fell from her eyes and dropped on the screen.

All that was being said or scripted in the video didn get to her. She wasn even hearing any of it as all her attention was focused on her old man.

She brushed the phone with her fingers, outlining his figure and suddenly she jolted when the lady on the screen that looked like her pushed the old man who fell back and hit his head on the side of the coffee table.

"Grandfather!" She screamed, at the same time, dropping the phone to the floor.

"Officers, arrest her!" Christine said to the policemen that just walked over.

"Miss, please come with us to the police station. " Said one of the policemen.

"I didn kill my grandfather, he was poisoned, ask the doctors. Christine, I did nothing to grandfather.

Christine chuckled in rage. "What doctors? Is it the ones you bribed? Unfortunately for you, the doctors testified against you. They told the police that you urged them to cremate grandfather the minute he was pronounced dead to hide what really caused his death and you also forced him to diagnose you with fake mental health issues..."

"Thats not true! Stop lying!"

"I didn lie against you, sister, those were the doctors statements in the station. "

"Where are the doctors, tell me, they- "

"Its unfortunate because the two doctors committed suicide out of guilt.

11

"W-w-what are you talking about?" Her heart dropped to her stomach when she heard that. How was she going to prove her innocence now?

"You heard me. You killed two innocent workers too! Officer, take her away." Christine turned her face away in disgust as the policemen tried to force the resistant Jeslyn out of the crowd.

"Let her go." The voice wasn loud, nor was it low. However, it was able to stop the commotion.

The people turned to look at him. He pulled the policemans hand away from Jeslyns wrist and said: "Ill bring her. "

Jeslyn raised her misty eyes to look at the man in front of her and slowly recalled he was the man she got married to.

She wasn the only one who remembered who she was. Those present that attended the wedding last week knew this man because of his outstanding appearance and the suppressed air around him. "I-its you?" Jeslyn asked like she didn expect him to be here.

"What are you doing here?!" Ray, who hasn said anything since finally spoke up when he saw this man again, his enemy.

The groom ignored everyone else and held Jeslyn by the wrist as he walked her out of the crowd with the policemen following behind them and camera lights flashing after them.

The crowd watched as the man and Jeslyn got into a black inconspicuous car parked not far away and Ray suddenly laughed.

It wasn clear why he was laughing, but he murmured: "The last time he wasn wearing custom-made, nor branded clothes. This time also he is still wearing an unknown brand and even a rickety car. I was right, he only has that superior air and nothing else.

ell more lies and opened her mouth. "Im guilty, please close the case and sentence me accordingly."

She looked at Christine after that, but Christine had her face turned and refused to look at her. Jeslyn smiled bitterly. This was the sister she loved and cherished so dearly.

She looked around the courtroom and saw her father and his wife sneering at her.

Ray had a complicated look on his face and his sister was all smiles. Maya had no visible emotions on her face but she didn look like she was being forced.

"Is that your decision?" The judge asked her.

"What else can I say or do to prove my innocence? Those who want me to be hanged won give up, and neither will you and the court believe that Im innocent without sufficient proof.

The world hates me now and even my fans must have thought I did it too, after all, my dear sister didn believe me. To please you all, Ill take the blame. Its the death of my grandfather. Since I cannot give him justice, then what good would I be in living freely?"

She threw the questions at the judge who stayed silent for a while before declaring his judgment.

"On the 15th of October, Jeslyn Lee was charged with first-degree murder. The court replaces Jeslyn Lee has no prior criminal history and has no health issues. Although there are cases of her taking hard drugs as some leftovers were found in her blood.

The court replaces the evidence presented by the defendant to not hold substantial proof of her innocence and hereby sentence Jeslyn Lee to life imprisonment without parole for the murder of her grandfather, Mr. Lee. "The judge struck the gravel to finalize his words.

Jeslyn looked from the judge to her sister who had a deadpan expression and then, to Ray and everyone else she knew, including her father and stepmother.

"Are you happy now? Of course, you will." Then she looked at the cameras and smiled bitterly. "Thank you everyone for ruining the life of an innocent person. I don wish you to be in my shoes one day, but when you eventually do, you will understand how it feels to be condemned when you are innocent.

She doesn take drugs, but they were miraculously found in her system. She knew it was from that drink she had before her wedding.

She stretched her hands out to the police officer who was coming towards her with handcuffs.

Once the handcuffs were placed on her, she followed the police officers as they escorted her out of the court and shielded her from the angry mob standing outside the court, ready to tear her into shreds. Meanwhile, the judge was seen in his office, sitting there in deep thought, wondering if he had wrongfully sentenced a person. Then he shook his head. The evidence against her was too enormous and real. So many people testified against her, including her family members. From her stepmother to her sister, friends, ex-fiance, assistant, and even her grandfathers workers, so it can be a lie, but why was he feeling restless after her parting words?

The judge couldn help feeling frustrated with this case he just concluded.